Longtime listener, first time caller.
Mél is a wonderful interlocutor, which made this an absolute privilege.
28.08.2025 03:44
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🔁 4
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Longtime listener, first time caller.
Mél is a wonderful interlocutor, which made this an absolute privilege.
I loved doing this with the brilliant Mél... hop in and have a listen once it's out next week!
This is a bloody good read
My university has announced a fund to essentially poach doctoral students from US institutions. DM me if you do work on the history/social impacts of AI and are interested in being poached 😂
Terrific essay from @mmasnick.bsky.social
I wish more of the business community would recognize this
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/17/fascism-for-first-time-founders/
Sounds depressing, I’ll add it to the list
I think this is the best thing I’ve read about journalism, AI and the business models of media companies. Must read for anyone who cares about this stuff, which really should be everyone.
Nailing it.
“It is the only “business model” that we have and that I am certain works: We trade good, accurate, interesting, human articles for money and attention. The risks of offloading that trust to an AI in a careless way is the biggest possible risk factor that we could have as a business.”
My legendary friend and colleague wrote for @crikey.com.au about the Gaza sized hole in Australian universities and what the draconian demands of special envoy Segal would mean for learning, teaching and being in the university. It is fire and you should read it.
www.crikey.com.au/2025/07/15/i...
Congrats! Incredible opportunity
Final registration call for the @britishacademy.bsky.social funded symposium, 'Speculative Machines and Us: Histories and Futures of AI', @lancasteruni.bsky.social on 17 July! 💥🤖 FULL PROGRAMME, ABSTRACTS AND BIOS here: wp.lancs.ac.uk/sciencestudi...
Register now here: wp.lancs.ac.uk/sciencestudi...
Mass extraordinary rendition.
And we know with certainty from the War on Terror that those certifications against persecution and torture are pro forma and are better understood as a document colluding to such treatment.
missing from this otherwise insightful account of the extremely online young men of the American far right is the tech platforms that host this garbage, there’s just this tendency to take social media as given but these platforms could be reined in or shut down
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/o...
This is the entire OpenAI business model
I think this really nails it. I also think that a huge problem is that the general / universal versions like ChatGPT tend to be conflated with more specialised applications where the pro/con arguments and lines of critique look very different.
The intent behind this project makes me think of viral AI-gen image of girl holding puppy in a dingy during Hurricane Helene, legitimized for being "emblematic of people's trauma." Thru AI there's an active shift from evidentiary images towards a designed emblematic.
www.404media.co/the-un-made-...
I've written a lot about the need to extend witnessing beyond the human, but this ain't it. We need to attend more closely to the abundance of very human testimony about war and suffering, to listen and act in response, not look for ways to dehumanise the survivors of dehumanising violence.
If you want to know how political realignment is achieved and how the centre-left is moved inexorably to the right, this is it.
The Albanese govt is seemingly backing a plan that could withhold uni and arts funding if they're seen to not tackle antisemitism. But what counts as "failure"? This sets a dangerous precedent, threatening academic independence, and informed and open debate.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...
I can’t count the number of conversations with students, friends, and academics where people dismissed at the idea that mass data collection was a huge risk to people’s lives and especially the most vulnerable
www.404media.co/ice-is-searc...
Non-academics: if you see an interesting academic paper on here and you can’t access it due to a paywall just email the author and (depending on the state of their inbox 😜) they will generally be thrilled you are interested in their work and send you a copy.
It's in a fab special issue on "New Worlds of Logistical Labour" edited by legends Tom Barnes, @laurenkatekelly.bsky.social and @blueskychris.bsky.social and in the open access journal Work, Organisation, Labour & Globalisation.
New article from me and Zoe Horn. "Digital twins and logistical labour: Models, plans and the inversion of the ‘real’," in which we show how operative, virtual replicas of material environments are beginning to subordinate the real within a logistical paradigm
www.scienceopen.com/hosted-docum...
Eliminate the humans so we can all get “popped up into some kind of sugar cube for a billion simulated years of bliss, but it's only six hours in clock time”
Or the violation of international law, which is actually more important to the rest of the world
Unfortunate timing for sure… but we’ll certainly make some kinda thing happen before too long. Try not to have toooo much fun though
(I’ll drop you a note post travels - a chat is overdue)
Boooo… why is this happening while I’m on the other side of the world, Ranjodh?
Excellent new research on the eco impacts of AI, and the necessity of better transparency regimes and data standards from @sashamtl.bsky.social and crew
screenshot of https://forest-restoration.eu/
Looking for a research associate to explore societal engagement with forest restoration on digital media – with @lboungr.bsky.social @wildflyingpanda.bsky.social @gabrielecolombo.bsky.social & more. Grateful for help sharing with those who might be interested! jonathangray.org/2025/05/31/s...
students and even some teachers need to understand that the essay-as-outcome isn’t what matters, but the essay-as-learning is crucial because it teaches thinking, analysis, communication, knowledge-making, resilience, planning, and more